Every night I wake up at 12:15a and 4:15a to take pain medication. This is better than the three times per night it was before I switched medications a few days ago. And even better than when I was in the hospital where I seemed to be woken up at least once an hour for medications, vitals, blood draws or any number of other things.

Laura and her mom split these times with her mom doing the 12:15a dosing and Laura doing the 4:15a dosing. After receiving my pain meds at 12:15a I had trouble falling back asleep, laying in bed for at least another hour in pain.

The problem with the pain meds is that they take around 45 mins to kick in so it is hard to know whether you need an additional pill (I can take 1-2 every 4-6 hours) until it is too late into the time between doses. Eventually I fell asleep, though the pain hadn't subsided. When Laura woke up at 4:15a, I took 2 pills and that helped me to get more rest between then and about 7:30a when I finally woke up.

Such is the nightly routine the past few nights.

While my pain is under control and the meds are working, it seems that at least once per night I'm waking up in pain. Fortunately I'm only taking one pill at a time, thus allowing me to take an additional pill when needed and still be within the dosing instructions.

Today has been a more comfortable day since the heat finally broke.

It can be pretty warm with six pillows surrounding me - two behind me, one under each elbow, one under my legs and one on my lap for a platform to rest everything on (laptop, phone, remote, stress ball and Camelbak). I also then have to contend with the pads that are between my slings and my stomach right now. So, the past few days I have sat here sweating.

The pain has been manageable throughout the day since the issue overnight.

I had the pleasure of catching up with my dear friend, David Baeza, for a while today. If you haven't checked out what he is doing with his new company, Vine Rangers, take a minute to have a look. It involves drones, vineyards and data!

I'm trying to catch up with at least one friend per day during the week. As with most of us, staying caught up with friends is something that we all want to do more of. I'm using this recovery time to do just that.

I am waiting to hear back from the ortho surgeon's office so that I can get a physical therapy office confirmed. I sent them a list of in-network places so that they can provide a recommendation.

I heard back from The Hartford, who work uses to administer our short-term disability insurance. My claim was approved. We weren't worried about it being approved but is always good to hear that actual confirmation.

We're waiting to hear back from the neurosurgeon's office on scheduling the prep tests ahead of the brain surgery. They want to do additional blood tests and brain mapping over the next couple of weeks.

Thank you for all of the wonderful feedback on Built Unstoppable. The comments on yesterday's Facebook update, emails, messages and texts were all positive and supportive - thank you!

Tomorrow I will be publishing the first article discussing overcoming fear when it stands in your way of making meaningful progress on a goal. In the future I will discuss fear in the context of finding out about my brain tumor and having brain surgery but that will be for another day (probably after I have the actual surgery).